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18 Apr 2006 : Column 410W—continued
Call Centres
Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether all call centres operated by his Department advise people on both benefit entitlement and employment opportunities. [60049]
Mrs. McGuire: The Department's contact centres deliver services tailored to the needs of specific groups of customers. Only those contact centres that are part of Jobcentre Plus Direct, dealing with Jobseeker Direct and benefit claims advise on employment opportunities in addition to benefit entitlement.
John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was spent by his Department on running call centres in (a) 2004–05 and (b) the first half of 2005–06, broken down by region. [61657]
Mrs. McGuire: In their recent study Department for Work and Pensions, Delivering effective services through contact centres", the National Audit Office estimated that DWP contact centres cost £190 million to run in 2004–05.
As contact centres are an integral part of the businesses they support, it is not possible to precisely identify the specific costs of the call centre element. For example, the pension centres perform both contact centre and claims processing functions and it is not possible to precisely allocate the costs between these two functions.
John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) calls and (b) calls originating from (i) Edinburgh and (ii) Scotland were unanswered by his Department's call centres in (A) 2004–05 and (B) the first half of 2005–06. [61658]
Mrs. McGuire: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Laws) on 14 November 2005, Official Report, column 1056W, which gives information on all calls. Information on where calls originate from is not collated.
Capita
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many tenders (a) Capita plc. and (b) its subsidiaries have submitted to his Department in each of the last three years; and how many tenders were successful. [61475]
Margaret Hodge [holding answer 29 March 2006]: The information is as follows:
(a) The number of tenders Capita plc. has submitted in the last three years and those that were successful
In 2006 Capita tendered for the Travel Management lot on the Government wide Travel Framework Agreement which includes DWP.
In 2003 Capita were awarded a place on four lots on the DWP Consultancy and Professional Services Framework Agreement. Since then they have been invited to 30 tenders and were successful in seven.
(b) The number of tenders subsidiaries have submitted in the last three years and those that were successful
18 Apr 2006 : Column 411W
In 2005 Capita Business Services Ltd. submitted tenders for three lots on the Communications Framework Agreement and was successful in one, Internal Communications Consultancy. They have not yet been awarded any business.
In 2006 Lonsdale Travel Ltd. tendered for five lots on the Government wide Travel Framework Agreement which includes DWP. They were successful in only one lot, Air and Ferry travel and have not yet been awarded any business.
In 2005 Veredus Executive Recruitment tendered for work through the Cabinet Office Framework Agreement for Executive Level Recruitment, to run a DWP SCS recruitment campaign and were successful.
In 2005 Capita Business Services Ltd. were awarded a place on two lots on the Department's UNITY Framework Agreement for the procurement of IS/IT services. They have not yet been awarded any business.
Child Poverty
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of children have been living in families with incomes of 40 per cent. or less of median income after housing costs in each year from 1995–96 to 2005–06; and if he will make a statement. [63992]
Margaret Hodge: The information requested is not available.
Child Support
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what the backlog is of Child Support Agency cases; what plans he has to reduce the backlog; and if he will make a statement; [61855]
(2) by what date the Child Support Agency will have cleared its backlog of cases; and if he will make a statement. [63202]
Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is the matter for the Chief Executive. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Hilary Reynolds, dated 18 April 2006:
In reply to your Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive. The Chief Executive is currently unavailable as he is communicating the Operational Improvement Plan to all Agency staff. I am responding on his behalf.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the backlog is of Child Support Agency cases; what plans he has to reduce the backlog; and if he will make a statement.
You also asked, by what date the Child Support Agency will have cleared its backlog of cases; and if he will make a statement.
As at December 2005, the Agency had a total 327,000 uncleared potential applications. This consisted of 68,000 old scheme applications and 259,000 new scheme applications. These figures can be found in table 2 of the latest issue Agency's Quarterly Summary Statistics (QSS), a copy of which is available in the House library.
In the Operational Improvement Plan announced by the Secretary of State on 9th February 2006, the Agency set itself a target to reduce the volume of uncleared applications to the point where, by March 2008, 80% of new applications will be cleared within 18 weeks, and by March 2009, 80% of new applications will be cleared within 12 weeks. In addition, by March 2009, there will be no backlog in this area.
As a first step towards achieving these improvements, the Secretary of State has set the Agency a target for reducing the volume of uncleared new scheme applications over the coming year. By 31 March 2007 the Agency is to reduce the volume of
- uncleared new applications by 25% of the number outstanding in March 2006. This is supported by a throughput target under which the Agency will, by 31 March 2007, clear 55% of new applications within 12 weeks of receipt and 80% within 26 weeks. These and other Secretary of State targets were published in the Agency's annual Business Plan on 30th March.
It should be noted that figures presented in this answer have been rounded to the nearest thousand, and percentages to the nearest whole percent.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what targets have been set for the Child Support Agency for each quarter from 2005 Q4 to 2007 Q4; and if he will make a statement. [61858]
Mr. Plaskitt: Annual targets for the Child Support Agency can be found listed in the Agency's Business Plans for the relevant year. They are set out as follows:
By 31 March 2005 to be collecting child maintenance and/or arrears from 78 per cent. of all cases with a maintenance liability using the collection service.
By 31 March 2005 to be collecting 75 per cent. of child maintenance and/or arrears due to be paid through the collection service.
By 31 March 2005 accuracy on the last decision made for all maintenance calculations checked in the year to be correct to the nearest penny in at least 90 per cent. of cases.
By 31 March 2006 to be collecting child maintenance and/or arrears from 78 per cent. of all cases with a maintenance liability using the collection service.
By 31 March 2006 to be collecting 75 per cent. of child maintenance and/or arrears due to be paid through the collection service.
By 31 March 2006 accuracy on the last decision made for all maintenance calculations checked in the year to be correct to the nearest penny in at least 90 per cent. of cases.
To collect arrears equivalent to 30 per cent. amount accruing (as a result of non-payment of regular maintenance) between 1 April 2005 and 31 March 2006.
By 31 March 2007, where maintenance is paid through the collection service the Agency will collect, on average across both the new and old schemes, 90 per cent. of the amount due.
By 31 March 2007, in 65 per cent. of cases across both the new and old schemes in which a liability to pay maintenance exists, the non resident parent has either made a payment via the
- collection service, or a Maintenance Direct arrangement is in place. In addition, further ensuring that at least this level of performance is achieved for those new scheme cases in which the parent with care is on income support or income-based jobseeker's allowance.
By 31 March 2007, the Agency will clear 55 per cent. of new applications within 12 weeks of receipt and 80 per cent. in 26 weeks.
By 31 March 2007, the agency will have reduced the volume of uncleared new scheme applications by 25 per cent. of the amount outstanding by the end of March 2006.
By 31 March 2007, accuracy on the last decision made for all new or old scheme maintenance calculations carried out and checked in previous 12 months to be correct to the nearest penny in at least 87 per cent. of cases.
The Agency will collect arrears equivalent to 40 per cent. of the amount accruing due to non payment of regular maintenance between 1 April 2006 and 31 March 2007.
Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what definition of 'non-resident parent' is used in respect of Child Support Agency decisions when the care is shared equally. [63793]
Mr. Plaskitt: If each parent cares for a qualifying child for the same number of nights, the parent who does not receive child benefit for that child is treated as the non-resident parent. If neither parent receives child benefit, the parent who, in the opinion of a decision-maker, is not the principal provider of care of the child is treated as the non-resident parent.
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